With how common remote work is these days, I'm wondering if anyone has ever been able to obtain an offline seat and a company-supplied workstation to program from home? I'd imagine that a lot of trust and prestige would be needed to be able to do this.
If you're good enough at online programming, the program can run the first time. Usually an operator would be asked to 'run it slow' and watch for any issues that may come up.
ALousyUser , What are your main interests in working from home? I just realized that what interests me the most is not having to make the long commute in each day. I drive about 45min each way as long as there are no traffic issues or bad weather. I estimate that I spend about $450 a month in gas and vehicle depreciation just to make that trip. If I lived closer to work, I may just prefer to come in.
ALousyUser I would agree with
DAN_M. Approximately that long. It takes a lot to get your head wrapped around how the machine will move around a part. You have to "see" it while you're programming. The more difficult the part, the harder it is. Something with A0B0 the whole time is really easy, but if you have 10 different probe rotations and you have to squeeze by the part because the part is as big as your table, then it takes a lot more educated experience to make it run the first time without crashing.
ALousyUser almost never.... took a lot of shame, blood, sweat, and tears to get there though so I'm not boasting in any way shape or form. Did I mentioned having a REALLY good offline environment, if so, that's key along with proofing new programs like you mean it! The group was small and no one touched the CMM but myself other than that it interfaced with the Robot to pick and place parts. I really only went in there to proof new programs and if I had to create new probe tips/angles along with running a huge probe qualification routine that knocked everything out like in 3hrs once a month or so depending on production load.
Kp61dude! that's awesome. I've got tons to learn before I can even consider working remotely, but your comments help me get a rough idea of what it takes to be able to work remotely as a CMM programmer with some success.
bfire85 - I've had to create a 100% program for a high volume production part that is only a bit above 2" long and the OD is not even 1/4" and have had to use multiple probe tip angles to be able to access all of the features on these parts. I can't imagine what it would take to program this offline. Nothing but mad respect to you and anyone else who are able to visualize the CMM space and work with it to come up with solid programs that can be confidently proven out with little to no changes made.